


The Untouched Sea

by baccuroth (orphan_account)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-06
Updated: 2014-12-06
Packaged: 2018-02-28 03:49:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2717762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/baccuroth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the war, Erwin and Levi live in a cabin by the sea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Untouched Sea

The cabin was small but more than enough for their simple needs.

A few more dotted the edge of the sea but they were empty. Erwin didn’t think anyone else had ventured this far beyond the wall yet.

Levi cleaned while Erwin planned.

By the third day, they were able to sleep on an actual bed. A kettle boiled on the hearth and Levi removed the kerchief keeping his hair back and folded it neatly before taking a deep breath.

"I hope I never get tired of that smell."

Salt and what Erwin thought was rotted wood. He wasn’t entirely sure. Did freedom smell like rotted wood?

* * *

Erwin felt foolish for thinking Levi wouldn’t take to water as he did to sky. He sat on a bleached log washed onto shore and watched him swim. His head would bob to the surface for breath before he dove back down. Levi brought back shells and something that might have been coins. They were worn too smooth to tell with any certainty.

As they lay in bed at night, Erwin would inhale the smell of the sea on Levi’s hair while Levi grumbled, scratching dried salt from his naked flesh.

Without consistent gear training, their bodies began to slacken somewhat and Levi complained about the film of fat on his inner thighs. Erwin only saw it as a softer cradle for his hips.

They made love most nights. Before now, Erwin - much less Levi - would be loath to refer to it as that but they had a deeper connection here. Where it was always rushed and secretive before, it could be slow and open now. There was no one to hide from or to catch them. Levi could ride Erwin with a certain delicacy until he came with an unexpected shout.

Erwin thought he would find the silence unnerving but the waves were always there, always in the background. He fell asleep to them like a metronome. Levi’s steady breathing turned it into a symphony.

When the weather was nice, Erwin would sit on the end of the pier he wanted to rebuild at some point. He would hang his legs over and see if any fish were biting. Levi would join him after chopping wood and cupped Erwin’s hand with both of his since the bigger fish tended to yank the rod away in the struggle to survive.

Levi cleaned what Erwin caught and he paused more than once to look at the blood and guts on his hands. Erwin would silently wipe them for him.

* * *

"I don’t want to go back to the city."

Levi rested his head against Erwin’s shoulder.

"Neither do I. We’ll be back once we get everything we need, though. Probably need a damn cart."

They fell into silence, then. Erwin closed his eyes. Levi’s breathing and the sound of the sea and the smell of possibly rotting wood.

Freedom.

* * *

Smoke curled into the darkening sky and Erwin dropped another log onto the fire, throwing up sparks.

Levi scooted closer to the fire pit.

"It’s too damn cold for this."

"Nonsense. The chill’s only coming off the water."

"Then why are we near the water, idiot?"

Erwin dropped down beside him, fixing a corner of Levi’s blanket. He picked up his own mug of powdered chocolate and milk. Overly sweet, just how he liked his tea. A true treat since they were running low on powdered… everything. Another trip to the city seemed an inevitability.

Levi leaned into him, watching the flames swallow its fuel.

"Has it been bothering you?"

Erwin looked down at what remained of his right arm.

"No. It’s fine."

"Are you sure? I’m not going to stand for this lying bullshit, you know."

"You’ve been good at applying the balm. Thank you."

Levi hummed and burrowed closer, nose against his throat.

Erwin ran his thumb along Levi’s cheek. His skin was chilled against the warmth of his hand.

Maybe it was too cold out for this.

"Don’t even think about moving," Levi warned when Erwin made to stand.

His hands found Erwin’s and together they sat by the sea until the fire had burned the wood down to embers.

* * *

'Oh lord,' Erwin thought.

Levi was standing at a stall, looking over a few things they would need for the cabin. It was a long journey from the sea to the city and they went through an exhaustive list of purchases when they did come to ensure nothing would be forgotten. Erwin was beginning to regret the idea that they should split up to get everything they needed faster.

Erwin’s knee-jerk thought was due to the small child currently throwing herself against the backs of Levi’s legs.

Levi absorbed the shock admirably and looked over his shoulder.

Erwin paid for his purchases and made his way over. Perhaps he could diffuse the situation

"Oi."

"Are you Levi?"

"Maybe. Who’s asking?"

The girl had large, green eyes. They were wide with awe. ”Anya.”

She released him and Levi turned around. The girl couldn’t have been older than four or five. She wore a simple shift dress and her dusty feet were bare.

"Are you?" She all but bounced on the balls of her feet.

"Yes."

"Humanity’s strongest!" she yelled, drawing a crowd as Erwin approached.

Levi knelt, digging in the bag at his side. He produced a red apple tinged with green and yellow and held it out to her.

"For me?"

Levi nodded, pushing the fruit into her hands.

There was no hesitation on her part to take a bite. Her eyes grew brighter as juice ran down her chin.

She darted forward to press a juice-stained kiss to his cheek before running through the crowd.

Levi stood, wiping the back of his hand across his face. Erwin was smiling at him.

"You handled that well."

Levi looked down the street at the retreating figure as the crowd dispersed.

"That’s what we fought for, Erwin, so little brats like her could be free."

Erwin put his arm around Levi’s shoulder and led him toward another stall.

"That we did. We have nearly everything on our list. Ready to go home?"

"Didn’t think I could miss a big puddle of water so much."

Erwin ran his lips over Levi’s hair.

"Neither did I."

It isn’t the nightmares that get to Erwin, it’s the waking up from them, realizing that all that horror is over and that he’s still so guilty from so many lives lost.

Levi wakes from the labored sound of his breathing and he pushes the blankets aside without looking back. The kettle on the hearth is still warm and he dips a clean cloth in. When he returns to bed, Erwin is sitting up. His chest rises and falls rapidly. He’s clutching what remains of his right arm.

"Levi-"

"Shut up, Erwin."

He wipes the sweat from his face, trails it down his throat before looking him in the eye.

"What was it about this time?"

"I don’t- just images, snatches of blood and gore and screams, but it seemed so real. It felt like teeth closing around my throat."

He coughs on cue.

Levi drops the cloth onto the floor and climbs onto Erwin’s lap.

'It's over,' the gesture says, 'there's nothing that can hurt you now and if something tries, I will cut it down where it stands.”

Erwin’s arm comes around him and he buries his face in Levi’s hair. It smells of lemons and grass and salt and Erwin thinks it’s the best smell anywhere.

Levi sighs and curls around Erwin as best as he can.

Night trickles on until the sea lightens with the rising sun.

Levi yawns and stretches.

He puts a new kettle on and returns to brush Erwin’s hair out of his face. Looking at him now, one would think such dark dreams never touch him.

Levi knows better.

* * *

If there’s one smell Mike never forgets, it’s the sewer water in the underground.

He remembers the day clearly, when Erwin became a little less his own.

Nothing of the smell lingers today - Levi’s scent is potent but not unpleasant, cleanser and grass - but in this place with no smell or light or feeling, his memories are all he has.

Erwin had never ridiculed him for his strange habit of sniffing people out and had even seen some value in it. They became fast friends and a little more out of desperation although Erwin was firm in his commitment to remaining single for the sake of a significant other who would be left to mourn his inevitable death.

At least, until the thug from the underground showed up in their lives.

Mike had nothing against Levi. He was more than proficient with the 3DMG and Erwin was always a few steps ahead of everyone else. He probably saw something in Levi that Levi himself couldn’t see.

He watched things unfold from there. Erwin and Levi spent more time together as the latter climbed the ranks. ‘Humanity’s Strongest,’ they were calling him. Levi shed the stench of the slums and donned the mantle of a savior.

It had been almost two years later when he saw them. They were outside Erwin’s room. Levi was on the toes of his boots while Erwin was leaning down. Mike could smell their lust. He remembered when Erwin had kissed him like that once. It was possession and passion and Levi was more than capable of keeping up with Erwin.

Mike went to bed that night with a strange feeling in his chest. It wasn’t jealousy because Erwin had never really been his. It was something he had never felt before.

Weeks later, sounds came from Levi’s room and the strong smell returned. Mike knew the mechanics of coupling but he couldn’t resist a peek.

Levi’s strong, lean back. Erwin’s hands guiding him up and down, back and forth. The satisfied sounds Levi made when Erwin came inside him.

It was terrified happiness.

That’s what he’d been feeling.

Erwin finding love in someone who could fall so easily.

He knew, given the way he looked at Levi now, that Erwin would not survive if Levi failed to return from battle.

He closed the door and went to his room. The following morning, there wasn’t a strand of hair out of place on Erwin’s golden head and Levi looked like the entire world had shat on him upon waking.

No one else would be aware of how their bodies reeked of each other.

When Mike dies, everything smells of rot and ash.

That’s when he finds himself in this place with no walls, where everything is a bland grey. He wanders without covering any distance.

The war eventually ends and so much changes. He follows his friends - those who survived - to uncharted lands and into fields where new crops will grow and wishes so badly to be part of it.

Mostly, he follows Erwin and Levi to the sea.

They’re the first to venture so far from the walls. While there are a few cabins huddled along the curve of the sea, only one is inhabited.

Mike watches Levi sweep and scrape and dust and scrub while Erwin makes lists and lists and more lists.

There is much that will need to be procured in the city and Mike rides along. He looks over his shoulder from the rump of Erwin’s horse to see Erwin and Levi riding close enough to tangle their fingers.

It’s late and the fire roars. The water nearly boils over but Levi is there to remove the kettle and prepare the tea. Erwin smiles at him before going back to his sketchpad where he is drawing some ideas for new carvings.

Mike sits in the window and stares out at the sea. He thinks about how these two started and how they got to where they are now.

Levi is still crass as ever but Erwin has refined him in certain ways and he only really curses when he’s frustrated. Erwin’s hair isn’t always as well-groomed as it had been and he’s adopted some of Levi’s rougher edges.

Mike wishes he could hug them, be a part of this beautiful life they’re creating together by this untouched sea.

Something tugs at Mike’s sleeve.

Levi has returned to Erwin with his tea, sitting on the bed beside him. Erwin sets his mug down and draws Levi close He fits so perfectly there, as if he were made to be by Erwin’s side from the very beginning.

"Is it finally time?"

No one answers but Mike feels that it is time to go.

So he goes.

* * *

Levi’s vocabulary expanded once they made it to the sea. His penchant for a nonchalant not bad tossed out was soon replaced; things were wonderful and incredible and holy shit. Nothing pulled an adjective from his throat quite like being on the water.

Both men had been dedicated from the start, learning all they could about shipbuilding although neither had it in mind to build anything larger than a craft big enough for the two of them.

Levi took over most of the building while Erwin finalized the written plans and within a year of setting out to conquer the sea, they had a worthy vessel.

"The wind is good today," Levi said, taking a deep breath of the salt air.

Erwin was already bringing supplies out of the cabin.

They left around midday. The wind was still mild and they could see clearly to the horizon. Levi wondered if the ocean fell over the edge like a great, terrifying cascade; the idea was absurd, he knew, but he couldn’t help wanting to see for himself.

When he was able, Levi leaned over and dipped his hand into the water. He thought he could see fish swimming beneath the surface, treasures glittering along the bottom.

"We should head back." Erwin looked in the direction they had come from. He could no longer see the shore much less the cabin.

"It’s still nice out."

And as soon as Levi said it, the sky darkened with storm clouds.

The boat rocked nauseously and Levi’s knuckled burned bone-white as he clutched the side. Erwin was soaked with water, sputtering as he tried to retain his one-handed grip on the rudder.

"Levi!"

Everything went black after that.

He thought he was dead but certainly dead people couldn’t feel birds picking at their hair.

"Shitty birds," Levi muttered, waving them away as he tried to sit up.

It was obnoxiously bright. The boat lay several feet away, not much worse for wear despite the ordeal it had undergone. Levi rubbed the sand from his eyes and winced. He felt like garbage washed ashore.

"Erwin!"

"I’m fine," came a response from the trees behind him. "I found these strange fruits."

They were small and red. Levi picked one up cautiously and smelled it, touched his tongue to the prickly flesh. ”If I get the runs…”

"Better than starving."

Levi had to concede to that point.

The island - at least they figured it was an island - was of a decent size. In a day’s time, they were unable to walk back to where they had been stranded. The trees were lush and heavy with all kinds of edibles. Animals and insects skittered among the branches.

"I didn’t think places like this existed."

"Me neither."

Erwin leaped up and pulled something down from one of the trees. It was oblong fruit with a spray of spiky green leaves at the top and an armored shell.

"Do you have your knife?"

Levi searched his pockets. “Somehow.”

He flipped the blade open and cut the leaves away. “Smells really sweet.” He carved away some of the flesh and handed a dripping chunk to Erwin.

He made a strange face, half between surprise and delight, as he chewed. “It’s really, really sweet.”

Levi’s brow furrowed and he took some for himself.

Juice ran down his chin. He chewed methodically, staring off into the distance as if thinking hard about the experience.

"Get some more if you can," he decided.

"Think we’ll ever make it back home?"

"Sure. Let’s just enjoy this bit of paradise while we can."

Levi dug his toes into the sand, searching for coolness. His fingers were sticky with fruit juice but they sought out Erwin’s regardless.

Neither were aware of the land nearby, just beyond a submerged causeway near the fruit trees, that would have led them in a slight curve back to the cabin.

They could have used a vacation anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> read more stuff by me [here](http://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/baccuroth/works).


End file.
